Projection or spotlight/headlight applications require light sources which firstly produce high light powers and secondly have a compact construction. A compact construction includes, inter alia, a simple electrical supply of the light source in order to minimize the number of further electrical components such as drivers, for example. Light sources are known, for example, which have a plurality of semiconductor chips which are arranged in the same orientation on a common metallization forming a common electrode and are drivable separately. In the case where the semiconductor chips have different orientations, however, separate driving is more difficult to realize. In the present case, the orientation should be understood to mean, in particular, the arrangement of the semiconductor chips with regard to their pn junctions.